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TTNews.com will be closed Monday for the Presidents’ Day holiday. Please check back on Tuesday, Feb. 20, for the latest trucking and freight transportation news.

This afternoon's headlines: New law targets inexperienced owner-operators; and Canadian report finds accidents involving tractor-trailers more likely caused by car drivers.

Several U.S. railroads, including Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific, are raising rates in an effort to recoup higher labor and fuel costs.

Diesel fuel prices have reached their highest level in a decade, driving some fleet managers to try and cut costs the only way they can by increasing fuel efficiency.

STA United, a drug-testing company that primarily serves the trucking industry, has been acquired by DAC Services, a firm that provides carriers with background checks on driver applicants.

Not willing to give up on its pilot program for paperless hours-of-service logs, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has again extended the deadline for carrier participation.

This afternoon's headlines: STB plans to tweak rate system for trucking; Study says natural gas buses have no edge in cleanliness over diesel hybrids; and Roadway faces another discrimination suit.

In the news this morning: New Jersey truckers end port protests; Volvo ready to make Scania merger concessions to EU; and Florida truckers' boycott paralyzes Port of Miami.

The executive committee of the Truckload Carriers Association voted 20-8 on Feb. 5 to recommend integrating the group with American Trucking Associations.

Truckers often complain of a lack of parking along the nation's highways, but Natso says there are plenty of spaces and plans to roll out a public service campaign to help truckers find them.